Robe lights "La Tana del Lupo"

La Tana del Lupo (translated literally as the 'Den of The Wolf') is a popular Italian TV talk show, broadcast live three times a week by CTS (the Sicilian Television Company) from the Panastudio Productions facilities in Palermo, Sicily, on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday afternoons.

DoP Massimo Tomasino has specified lighting for the current series, which includes 6 Robe ROBIN 300E Beams and 2 Robe DigitalSpot 3000DTs, which are positioned on the studio floor and on an angled truss around the studio's perimeter.

The lively 60 minute interactive show is directed and presented by Francesco Panasci. It covers topical and often controversial issues relating to politics, culture, health, the environment, etc. with an invited panel of studio guests exchanging constructive and intelligent views, opinions and thoughts with the audience.

The set design is deliberately minimal, so attention remains focussed on the guests, the dialogue and the studio action, featuring curved sofas on the set so people can face each other.

It is only a small lighting rig, but Tomasino has more than enough options with the ROBINs and the DigitalSpots, which are carefully programmed and appropriately used.

He has used the ROBIN 300 Beams on many shows before and likes them very much. They are "Perfect" for this kind of television studio, he says, adding, "The brightness is amazing and thanks to the small size, the units integrate well with the surrounding environment".

The products are also proving very reliable - now a de rigueur fact for the Robe brand - and this allows him to handle every live-to-air situation with "Great confidence" as there has never been "Even the smallest glitch".

Another important feature - one that has particularly impressed the Audio department - is the extreme quietness of the new ROBIN 300 Series, a feature that has been perfected by Robe utilising an innovative patented cooling system.

The DigitalSpots are rigged on a truss in the corner of the room, and are primarily used for video and colour projections onto a series of white set panels behind the sofas.

Tomasino explains that the overall lighting design is based on producing classical, 'proper' balanced TV lighting. He uses moving gobo projections sparingly and only during the regular 1 minute live music links, often projecting them over the musicians as they switch between the topics under discussion.

He is delighted with the overall performance of both the ROBINs and the DigitalSpots on the show, stating that they are a "Vital" element in providing all important visual contrasts, texturing and scene-changes.

All the lights and DTs are controlled by Tomasino himself, using a Jands Vista S1 console.

Panastudio Productions has purchased all the Robe equipment from Cattolica based Italian distributor Robe Multimedia.